The Cry Baby Killer

This is a movie that you can watch despite its non existent scenario and dialogs, because it is well paced and producer Roger Corman, in an early effort, makes every dollar count in production value.

But of course one checks it out because it is Jack Nicholson's debut movie. And yes, one already didn't have Jack Nicholson's voice, and yes, one already didn't have Jack Nicholson's face, but, yes, one could have easily acted as badly as Jack Nicholson then. Knowing what was to come next, this makes it worth an idle glance.

Jack Nicholson made his debut on the big screen with this acceptable thriller from the series B, subsection youth and violence, produced by Roger Corman, in which he shares the cast with Carolyn Mitchell, a beautiful and young actress totally forgotten, who shortly after the end of filming would become nothing more and nothing less than the fourth wife of Mickey Rooney before passing away tragically.

Virtually the entire career of the director, Jus Addiss, was focused on television, and that is something that shows for good in the planning and staging of the film, with a sustained rhythm and without ups and downs. The youthful story of love, jealousy and violence in which Nicholson takes refuge in a small grocery store armed with a gun and with hostages is nothing to write home about and even focuses more on what happens around those hours than in the Nicholson himself, who in his performance already accurately outlines some of the grimaces of a patient with hemorrhoids that later made him famous. But the movie, I already said, is quite effective and has its charm, especially in the opening sequences in the dive where Mitchell and the badass thug for which she has left Nicholson (Brett Hasley) are whisteling sweet nothings surrounded of some other guys.

Without lacking from a sociological point of view, although seasoned with humor, the usual morality of the B-series movies of the time that deal with the subject of youth and delinquency, another of its assets is the elegant and beautiful presence as a secondary role of Lynn Cartwright, a lady who would later have a long career in projects of a different kind. Among the presences that one cannot fail to notice in the large casting there is also, although it does not even appear in the credits, the always friendly and usual characteristic of the Corman gang at that time, Bruno VeSota, a guy who always gives a consistent looking to the shots and that, as director, that same year he had done for the "The Brain Eaters". As with Corman everyone did everything, may be someone told him to stay and gave him a phrase so that the tape in its final section would not decay.

In the same way that in moments of tension, the soundtrack resorts to more sandunguero Latin jazz, in the vein of Gillespie's Latinbop, so that things do not go downhill. Those are the kind of things that are appreciated in this type of cinema.

Cry Baby Killer, The (1958)

*** (out of 4)

This is somewhat of a Holy Grail for me because I've been dying to see this flick since I became a fan of Jack Nicholson back in the late 80s. I've been pretty lucky to know people who own rare movies but not a single one ever had this film and in fact, I never he knew anyone who had actually seen it. In the film Nicholson (in his debut) plays a hot headed teen who is upset when the town's tough guy steals his girl. After being jumped, Nicholson gets ahold of a gun, kills the tough guy and then takes another man, a woman and her baby hostage. A tough as nails cop (Harry Lauter) tries to talk him out as the television station and onlookers gather outside. This moral/teenage flick is in the same vein as Rebel Without a Cause but it stands out due in large part to being Nicholson's debut. I wouldn't say he gives a good performance as he goes way too over the top in a few scenes but you can see certain trademarks that'll show up in some of his classic performances. The scenes with him screaming at the crying baby get some unintentional laughs as does a few other scenes but this just adds to the cult appeal. Since this film is on DVD now I'm sure it will become a cult classic of the Drive-In teenage films. Producer Roger Corman and screenwriter Leo Gordon have cameos.

There's one reason to watch The Cry Baby Killer, but it's a good one: to see Jack Nicholson's film debut. Most people remember he played the dentist's patient in Little Shop of Horrors, but few know he made a slew of teen flicks around the same period. It's low-budget, simple, and not something you'd ever really choose to watch - but it's Jack Nicholson at twenty-one years old! And you don't have to worry that you might not recognize him. Some people just look exactly the same throughout the decades, and Jack's one of them. His cute little pouty face is the same little pouty face in his last film in 2012. As you can expect from the title, you'll see a lot of pouting and crying.

He plays a punk kid who gets in a brawl over a girl and shoots a couple of other kids. He flees the scene and takes hostages, afraid he'll get arrested. He's such a little kid! He doesn't realize that he's making it worse, and his sweet little face just melts your heart - even though he's taken a baby hostage and killed people. Trust me, as the film unfolds, it turns out he's not as evil as he sounds. He's just a punk kid who made a mistake and is afraid of getting in trouble. Don't you just want to give him a hug? Or maybe three Academy Awards in the next thirty years?

I wanted to see THE CRY BABY KILLER since very long (probably 2020) because it's Jack Nicholson's debut and in that period of time he used to look a lot like me. Last October I finally saw it and while I didn't loved it I found it just ok.

Jimmy Wallace (Nicholson) comes in contact with Manny Cole (Brett Halsey) and his gang when he is in a diner and tries to defend his girlfriend. After Manny and his thugs beat him and take his girl, Jimmy goes in the usual hideout of Manny's gang and after stealing a gun Jimmy shoots to Manny's cohorts. Since he's afraid of having shot them he flees in a grocery store that was about to close and takes hostage the clerk, his wife and kid. Police arrives and a large crowd waits outside the store with the police trying to make Jimmy go out, and they'll eventually succedd but it's best if you see the movie for yourselves.

The plot is typical for an exploitation movie of that time but what makes this one unique is not only Nicholson's debut but his performance in that it looks like he was phagocytizing some of his next characters (especially ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and SHINING) and as usual he didn't disappoint. And just for this I'd recommend this.